Multicolor printing on rotary presses



JunelZ, 1928. 1,673,060

E. BRINKMANN HULTICOLOR PRINTING 0N ROTARY PRESS ES Fiie'd march 21, 1925 Patented June 12, 1928.

UNITED. STATES miner nnmxmnnn, or BEnLm-sononEnEae, GERMANY.

MULTICOLOR I'ItINTING ON ROTARY DRESSES.

Application filed. March 21, 1923, Serial Np. 626,656, and in- Germany March 18,1922.

.-My invention relates to multicolor printing on web and other rotary presses and more particularly to the printing of three color intaglio illustrations combined with a text and to the products obtained thereby. It is an object of my invention to facilitate the production and to improve the quality of the products. V

Up till now three'color intagho 1llustra-' tions combined with a continuous intagllo text. for large circulation in the form of prospectuses, newspapers, journals or periodicals and the like, have not yet been produced on web presses, but the illustrations and the text-have been printed in one color, both simultaneously and from the same form cvlinder. This manner of proceeding 1s im-. practicable in the case of multicolor intaglio printingeas it is not possible, especial y with large form cylinders to transfer the very fine type on all form cylinders so ac curately that they are in perfect-register when printed upon one another. However,

. absolute accuracy is indispensable if a clear,

, multicolor illustrations.

purely black and easily readable type shall be obtained. If any of the separated colors,

' for instance, with the three-color process, the red or the yellow ink, pro ect in one d1-' clear print, di cult to read would not find favor with the public in spite of excellent ing the types in any of the separated colors is impracticable, inasmuch as, apart from the fact that a colored text could not be read as easily as a black one, therespectlve color would be taken off by all of the high, non-engraved parts of all subsequent formcylinders, and other detrimental consequences would be met with, asshall be described hereinaft r.

Besides the 'diculty of transferringthe print on the form cylinders with perfectly registering contours, also other inaccuracies in the registration may occur. during the printing caused, for instance, by stretching in the material to be printed on, which cannot always be obviated or removed by means of a drying device, such as a drying drum inserted between the reel ;web) and the first form cylinder, and there ore a special form cylinder for the text is indispensable. Although this idea seems obvious it has not proved feasible if the procedure is carried through in the manmr hitherto prac- The idea of print-' ticed in monochrome intaglio,.viz, printing first the illustrations in intaglio and thereafter the textin letter press,- this mode of proceeding is not possible in multicolor intaglio. If the text cylinder is inserted as last form cylinder, no clean illustration printing can be attained as with the succesive-imprints of the several part colors which are printed one above the other within a 'few seconds, requentlyeven in a fraction of a second, the finished multicolor print would not be dried sufficiently, in

spite of the drying device, before coming in contact with the text form cylinder, whereby the fimshed illustration print would be blotted, andquashed by the projecting nonengraved parts of the text form cylinder. Furthermore, the color inks of the illustra tion prints remaining on the text form cylinder would mix with the text ink-whenever some if the text form cylinder were used at... the same time for the printing of monochrome illustrations,.either forthe sake of economy or in order to save time in the case of latest illustrations arriving at the last moment or for thesa-ke of variety in order to enhance the eflz'ect of the colored illustrations by monochrome pictures distributed therebetween.

By the method of printin according to the present invention all t e above-mentioned difliculties are obviated. The novel. method consists in usin for the text a special form-cylinder an placing it in the printing press in .such a manner that it prints the 'text first, before the multicolor lllustrations are printedfrom the following illustration form cylinders.

This method of first printing, the text from a special cylinder can be used as well in connection with printing presses having different form cylinders arranged around one impression cylinder, as with high-speed presses where the printing sets are arranged in series and each form cylinder co-operates with an impression cylinder of 'its own. It can, however, be employed also in connection with all other methods of printing of text and multicolor illustrations, such as oflfset printing, where similar conditions prevail.

In presses with onedmpression cylinder the arrangement of the text form cylinder in front of the illustration cylinders presents the further advantage that this printing de-" vice which, owing to the position of its ink- 5 ing mechanism and doctor-knife, is located unfavorably with respect to the place of printin is not used for a part-color of the multico or illustrations, as on the long way abetweenuthe doctor-knife and the. place of impression a partial dryin of the ink in the engravin is unavoidab e, whereby the quality 0 the print is of inferior value. In

co'ntradistinction thereto the ink for prints In order to prevent the printing ink from undergoing changes during, the printing procedure, for instance if the inks show a tendency of thickening in case the drying devices act too rapidly, it ,is preferable to use ink basins of a size not larger than absolutely n'ec'essaryJand to provide for a continuous ink? supply from larger ink reservoirs vregulated automatically according to the working of the press, the basins being further provided with a double-walled bottom ,for the circulation of water in order to prevent an undesirable increase of the temperature of the contents.

Two different kinds of presses arranged for carrying outw-the invention are shown diagrammatically "'by way of example in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a slde view of a press with one impression cylinder, and

' Figure 2 1s a side view of a high speed printing machine according to this invention. Referring to Figure 1, A is the impression cylinder, B is the text form cylinder, 13,, B B are the illustration form 0 linders, 0, C C 0 are the double walle ink basins, 11b 1),, D, are, the doctor-knives, E, E,, E E are the places of impression, F, F F,, F, are resilient, intermediate I cylinders,'M is the roll of material to be printed on. Referring to Figure 2, A, A A A are the'impression cylinders, B is the text form cylinder, B

form cylinders, C, C C C are the double walled-ink basins, D, 'D;, D D .are ,the

im ression, F, F F F5 are resilient inters terial to be printed on.-

ing the text can .be prepared in such a man-' ner that the long way between the doctor-- B B are the illustration doctor-knives, E, E E E are the places of The above shows that, according, to the present invention, all kindS Of printed mat ter designed for large circulation, such as the illustrated Sunday supplements of daily newspapers, illustrated periodical prospectuses and the like'can beprod ced on rotary web presses as well as on sheet fed machines by pure intaglio printing of both the text and the multicolor and more especially tricolor illustrations, in contradistinction to mixed intaglio'and letter-press printin as hitherto proposed.

he invention is further applicable not only to one-sided printing, but also to the first and perfecting impression.

I wish it to be understood that I do not .desire to be limited to the exact sequence of operations nor to the details of construction above described, for obvious modificationswill occur to a person skilled in the art.

I'claim --1. Rotary press for. multicolomprinting comprising in combination a particular intaglio text form cylinder, a water ink supply therefor, and' a pl ralit of intaglio illustration form cylin ers i or the, partcolors, said text form-cylinder being arranged in front oi said separate color cylinders with respect to the web.

2. Rotary press 'for multicolor printing,

comprising in combination a particular intagllo text form cylinder, a water ink su ply therefor, and aplurality of intaglio'illustration form cylinders for the separate colors, oil ink supplies therefor, said text form -c linder being arranged in front of said co orlcylinders with respect to the web;

3. In theart of multicolor intaglio print,

ing, the printing of the text by, the intaglio method, and thereafter se aratel printing the illustrations in multico or by tiie intaglio method. I I L k 4. In the art of multicolor intaglio printing, the printing of the text by the inta-glio;

method in one color, and successively thereafter the illustrations in tricolor by the intaglio methgd.

6. In' the art of multicolor inta 'lio' print 'ing, the printing of the text first by the intagho method in one type of ink, and thereafter printing the illustrations in multicolor b the intaglio method in an ink repellent to t at used for the text printing.

6. Rotary press for multicolor intaglio print Y ing comprisin in combination a particular intaglio' text orm cylinderand a plurality of intaglio illustration form cylinders. for the sepaigate color, said text formcylinqier being arranged in frontof said color cy inders with respect to the web. I ,In testimony whereof I, aflix my signature.

ERNST BRINKMANN. 

